Another
by The Fanciful Fangirl
Summary: In the wake of the destruction of the Death Star, Imperial Lieutenant Aki Doneta learns the name of the rebel who fired the fatal blow after being captured by the Rebel Alliance. She resolves to escape because she knows there is another. One-shot. Prologue of sorts to a new series.


"I wonder who did it?"

"I think I overheard someone say his name was Skywalker or something."

Lieutenant Aki Doneta stalled her pacing at the name and looked to her fellow incarcerated comrades. They were in a relatively small room, one that was obviously never intended to be used as a holding cell. The entire base seemed to be makeshift. It almost amused Aki that the rebels had stooped so low by converting a religious temple into one of their bases, such was their way. She found the whole thing disrespectful. Their cell could have been a bedroom thousands of years ago, or perhaps the office of a noble holy woman. Now, its stone walls had been stripped bare, and the wooden door had been replaced, rather hastily, it seemed, by an ill-fitting durasteel one. By Aki's count, which was always accurate, the three benches that had been placed along the walls held twelve of her fellow Imperials.

And one of those fellow Imperials had learned the name of the pilot who destroyed the Death Star.

Aki still couldn't believe the blasted space station was gone. Some of her cellmates were angry, other disillusioned. Even as she and her comrades, who'd been sent via shuttle to search the debris for survivors, had been captured by Rebel fighters, soldiers were in disbelief. They'd been told the station would be a lasting beacon of hope for the Empire. She'd heard such sentiment upon her assignment to the _Devastator_ , the current flagship of Lord Darth Vader. It had once astounded Aki that the man, despite wielding great power within the Imperial Military, had no official military role. Up until recently, he had not even been an official a member of the Emperor's ruling council, and even still was not known to the public as anything more than a mythic super soldier. Soldiers usually dreaded assignments to his flagship for fear they became prey to his infamous murderous outbursts. Aki herself had not been worried until she heard a fellow lieutenant speak the name Skywalker.

She had first heard the name in her first year at the Academy, slipping from the lips of her tearful and bruised roommate.

Aki's superior test scores in their first week of training had allowed her the rare privilege of rooming with two other high scoring female cadets, instead of in a larger set of bunked quarters. Her first roommate, a Coruscanti girl by the name of Reima E'ron turned out to be quite a laugh and a competent schooling opponent. She'd come from a middle-class family and risen through the ranks through sheer willpower and intellect. Reima and Aki got on immeasurably well from their first week.

Their other roommate was a bit more, quiet. Giving her name only as Veré, with no surname to speak of, she kept mostly to herself and rarely spent her free time with her fellow cadets. If not for her impressive, almost supernatural talents, she might never have been noticed by her peers. Aki suspected her of cheating for a month or so before she and Reima found the poor girl asleep in the library surrounded by piles of books and filled notebooks of Veré's own handwriting.

"So she's not cheating." Reima had remarked upon leaving their room, having left Veré to snooze in the library.

"Seems not." Aki had said putting down her bag and slumping into her bunk.

"Well, that seems rather anti-climactic," Reima said petulantly.

"What else do you want?"

"I want to know what she's hiding. Don't call me a conspiracy theorist yet, Aki. We go to the library a lot too right?" Aki nodded her agreement. " And we don't always see Veré there, so she has to be somewhere else."

"What are we going to do, follow her around?"

Reima smiled devilishly.

The next day, the two girls waited for Veré to leave their Current Events class. She returned first to their shared room and emerged, rather quickly, having changed into one of her spare exercise uniforms. Aki attempted to end the search there but Reima insisted they continue. Her roommate agreed with a heavy sigh. She had not intended to spend her days at the Imperial Academy stalking her secretive roommate around.

Veré led them next to a training room, which the cadets had free access to during their leisure time. Aki started to tell Reima she was a paranoid gundark but was interrupted by Veré taking a metal cylinder.

 _Code cylinder?_ Reima mouthed. Aki shook her head and watched in amusement as Veré pushed a button on the cylinder and it extended out into a long staff. The cadets watched as she went through a series of practice moves that seemed like sword fighting. Reima scrunched her nose up. No one used swords anymore. They watched in awe as Veré ramped up her exercises, performing acrobatics along with the movements that certainly were not taught in their physical courses. The girls retreated soon after, resolved to let the matter rest. It seemed their roommate was just an avid lover of martial arts.

They would have let it lie but then the bruises started.

First, Reima noticed them briefly upon seeing Veré return from the fresher. A few big welts on Veré's upper and forearms. The next week a few cuts, the week after that a subtle limp formed.

"She can't be doing that to herself." Aki insisted. The pair resolved to confront her. The next night they caught her before she headed out to study.

"Hey Veré, we gotta talk." Reima started. Aki sat on her bed restlessly, part of her expected the girl to just blow them off.

"What's up?" She asked, far more cheerful than she looked. The bruises had become a part of her, new ones popping up weekly. There were days Reima and Aki couldn't find Veré anywhere on base and she'd return home looking worse for wear. Though her school work was, as always, impeccable, Veré looked like she was breaking down in spite of how much she tried to hide it.

"What's going on?" Reima asked. She and Aki had prepared for any situation they could think of, a spice addiction, a gang, an abusive lover, illness. Nothing prepared them for Veré's explanation.

"Nothing's going on." Veré responded, her voice a little shaky.

"Yeah, that means something's going on. Spill it. Just because you don't like us or don't want roommates, doesn't mean you can get the crap beat of you and not have us say something."

"What? You guys are great roommates." Veré said evasively. Reima was about to go off again but Aki held up a hand. Something was wrong, Veré was telling the truth, Aki could hear it in her voice.

"So you're just shy? That's why you never talk to us?" Aki said. She noticed Veré's hand tremble.

"Look, I'm just a keep to myself kind of person so-" Reima interrupted her.

"No."

"Excuse me?"

"No. You don't get to deflect this conversation by saying you're some sad loner. You've got bruises all over you Veré. You don't have a last name, which isn't too weird but on top of everything else, it's strange. You never hang out with the other cadets, you barely even talk to people unless it's for an assignment. And to top it all off, you go totally AWOL and you come back looking like you went two rounds with a gundark. So spill, or we're going to Commander Emala."

"We're not going to let whoever's doing this keep hurting you." Aki said.

Veré looked to the ground. The hand gripping her bag shook and soon enough light sobs filled the room. Reima tried to walk over but was held at bay.

"You can't help. And I swear to you, if you try to help, you'll both end up dead."

"We're part of the Imperial Military, Veré if someone's attacking a cadet they have to pay for it."

Veré raised her head slowly, her eyes brimming, and her cheeks scrubbed with red.

"Who in the nine Corellian hells is going to make the Emperor pay for it?"

Three hours later, Aki and Reima had been formally introduced to Veré Skywalker, daughter of Darth Vader.

Now, in a makeshift cell surrounded by her Imperial comrades, Aki was certain that she had to escape. She had to find Veré or Vader, both of whom she hoped had missed the destruction of the Death Star in their TIE fighters.

She had to tell them that there was another Skywalker.


End file.
